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Starting a paladin
So, you're thinking of playing a Paladin? This page is intended to give a short overview of what to do over the first 10 levels or so, just to get you started on the right path. If you're looking for more of an overview of the class's abilities, see the main Paladin page. For more advanced topics, see the Paladin Tactics. Things to consider when picking a Paladin: * Do I like to be able to play any of three roles on demand (DPS, Tank, or Healer)? * Do I mind having a small choice of ranged attacks? * Do I like to be able to solo effectively? For a more general overview on starting out playing WoW, please check out the Newbie Guide. Race selection In the original World of Warcraft game, Paladins are an Alliance-only class. Even in the Alliance, only Dwarves and Humans can be a Paladin. In general, neither race is better than the other. Dwarves have a few nice abilities that will help you out (cold resistance, stone form), while humans have benefits to maces and swords that help as well, not forgetting the +10% reputation gained. The one primary thing to note is that the bonus Dwarves get, the gun skill, is lost on a Paladin since they can never use guns. Not a gamebreaker, but just be aware of it. Dwarves start with higher Strength and Stamina, but have less Intellect than Humans. With the Burning Crusade expansion, Blood Elves, the new race of the Horde, are able to choose the Paladin class (also referred to as Blood Knights). The Blood Elf's ability is an AoE silence, which is very useful against casters. The Draenei, the new Alliance race, are also able to choose the Paladin class, and have two abilities useful for a Paladin; one is a HoT spell, while the other is a +hit% aura. Starting weapons: All of the Alliance races start with proficiency in maces, while Blood Elves start with proficiency in swords. Humans have a 3-point expertise bonus when wielding a sword or mace. Starting Stats: Strength Agility Stamina Intellect Spirit Armor Health Mana Human: 22 20 22 20 22 42 58 80 Dwarf: 24 16 25 19 20 34 88 79 B Elf: 19 22 20 24 20 48 38 140 Draen: 23 17 21 21 23 36 48 95 Overall though, particularly for casual gamers, there's really no major difference between the races - choose the race that you want to play, whether for its looks, its voice, or because it's simply good fun! Early leveling The easiest way to progress through the early levels is to simply do any and all of the quests you can find. Not only will you breeze through the first 5 to 10 levels, but you'll get useful gear and precious money. Money is particularly important so you can purchase your spells and abilities. You will spend levels 1 to 5 in your starting town. Make sure you get all the abilities and spells you can from your trainer. Between level 5 and 6 you'll find yourself heading off to your second town and a new trainer who can teach you various things. At the second town, repeat the process - do each and every quest you can find. It's important to keep up with your abilities and your gear, because mostly a Paladin can not win battles of higher level without having his/her new abilities. Now is also an appropriate time to start training in your chosen professions. Also, learn ALL the weapon skills that are available to you. Skilling up a weapon only takes minutes to at most a couple of hours, and you don't want to throw away a good weapon because you have not learnt how to use it from the trainers! See the Paladin Quests page for more information about the paladin-specific quests. Notable early quests A listing of all Paladin specific quests can be found over at Thottbot here. The quests listed below are the low level quests (1-10) that get you some equipment useful for a Paladin at that time. Also, be sure to complete your Level 10-13 quest series (Tome of Divinity) which gives you the ability to raise others. Dwarves * - the Boar Handler Gloves are a good prize at early levels. * - Rustic Belt * - Upgrade your weapon. * - Dwarven Kite Shield * and - A decent axe. Humans * - Nice Early Weapon Reward * - Some nice mail boots. * - Latched Belt * - Mail bracers. Draenei * - Mail bracers. * - Mail leggings. * - Mail tunic. * - Upgrade your weapon. Blood Elf * - starts the quest chain to gain Redemption On soloing and grouping Soloing The most important thing to remember is your strength: lasting a long time. Always keep that at the forefront and you can take on most enemies with ease. During the early levels, you should spec retribution for higher melee damage. Use a 2-hand weapon with good dps, and wear mail armor (plate after level 40) with strength and stamina. You should also keep a shield and a fast 1-hand weapon in the bag for special situations. When fighting, always remember to keep your aura, blessings and a seal up all the time! At this stage it is preferable for you to deal with one mob a time with your 2-hand weapon. However, when you have attracted two or more mobs, or you are low on health or mana, use a macro to switch to your shield and 1-hand fast attacking weapon and change to Seal/Judgement of Light/Wisdom. When necessary, stun your target with Hammer of Justice, or cast Divine Protection/Divine Shield. You can take this time to either run away from the danger, or heal yourself and continue the fight. After level 30 to 40, leveling up by AOE grinding is another option. However, you need to respec to protection for this. You also need to find a fast 1-hand weapon (preferably with spell damage) and a shield and wear plate armor with intellect and stamina. Try to find an area with mainly melee mobs of similar or lower level to you. This will make the grinding much easier. See also: Paladin AoE Grinding#Where to Grind. Grouping As a Paladin you can play any of three roles (described in greater details in the Paladin Tactics section). Paladins can DPS, tank, or heal, but which of these roles you are strongest at is based on your talent spec and the gear you bring with you. It is important to know what your role is before getting into combat and acting accordingly to prevent unnecessary party deaths and disasters. As DPS, you'll rely mostly on procs from Seal of the Martyr / Seal of Blood and critical hits for your damage output. With a slow, hard-hitting two-hand weapon and points in the Retribution talent tree, you can put down quite a chunk of damage, but it can be difficult to control. This means that a string a procs or crits can cause you to pull aggro off of the tank. Luckily as a plate class you can probably survive this until the tank gets the mob back; but if you're really taking a beating, you can swap in a shield in combat to increase your survivability, or use your Divine Protection or Divine Shield skill to remove aggro from yourself and back out of melee to heal. Always be prepared to help off-heal if it becomes necessary or to cleanse debuffs off of party members. A DPS paladin can also be very useful for helping the tank get aggro off of a healer, since the paladin can taunt the mobs at range using Righteous Defense and allow the tank to take them off of him without having to run across the room. As a tank, you bring the benefit of being able to hold aggro very well on multiple Mobs and you can front load a lot of aggro quickly, allowing DPS to get into the fight early. The bad part is Paladin tanks take a bit more damage than Druid and Warrior tanks. As a Paladin you must rely on your spell damage output to hold aggro. Use Righteous Fury and do as much holy damage as you can. Try to start with Avenger's Shield (Yes, even if it's only 1 Mob!), and remember: Holy Shield should always be active while tanking. Retribution Aura can be very effective against multiple mobs, since you'll passively generate threat on each one every time it hits you. Consecration is also a great way to build aggro, but using it means you will have to be very careful about positioning so as to not break crowd controlled mobs. Keep up the buffs on your teammates - it will help the entire group in the long run. As a healer, remember to heal the main party tank (if you are the only paladin in the group) and ensure that the focus of your party's firepower is on one mob. Make certain you continue to keep everyone buffed to the best of your ability. As a paladin, you must also switch your Auras so that they are helping your team the most under the current circumstances. Read the Paladin Tactics section for more on this. Always be prepared to jump in as an off-tank if the primary tank goes down, or if a secondary mob goes after one of your weaker groupmates. But remember that the tank is counting on you for healing, so even if you are holding off an enemy, keep healing your teammates and don't worry much about hurting the mob that is attacking you - your team will get to him as soon as they finish off the mob they are concentrating on. Useful professions The Paladin can benefit directly and indirectly from many of the professions available. Primary professions * Mining and Blacksmithing : This combo affords the Paladin an easy way to upgrade arms and armor if they are unlucky with drops. Since having a good weapon and great armor is one of the most vital parts when leveling a Paladin, this combo helps Paladins stay at their peak throughout their adventures. * Skinning and one of Mining or Herbalism : Two gathering skills (one of which requires the mini-map to find resource nodes) can provide a strong income. Many players begin their careers as dual gatherers, changing to a crafting profession in later levels as they become more established. * Herbalism and Alchemy : Since you can heal yourself with spells, even in combat, Alchemy is somewhat less useful to Paladins than to non-healing classes. One benefit of Alchemy is mana potions: without mana a Paladin is in trouble, so these potions are vital in case of emergencies. In addition, a health potion can be downed quickly to bring back your health when making a quick escape. Be aware that potions can be found as drops from mobs and purchased at the auction house, but purchasing them will cost more than making your own. * Enchanting : Tied to a money-making gathering skill, this would allow you to enchant your weapons in the way you want, when you want. Overall however, it may just be easier to find an enchanter and pay them to do the work for you. Although, you can make quite a bit of money buying low leveled Uncommon items, Disenchanting them, and selling the resulting materials. * Mining and Engineering : Engineering can be a great profession pair for Paladins for one reason - it's one of the few ways for a Paladin to get a ranged attack (see ranged options in Paladin Overview. Dynamite and bombs allow the Paladin to have at least one (albeit minor) ranged attack that they can use. While difficult to see at lower levels, the disadvantage of not having a ranged attack becomes glaringly apparent when trying to pull enemies (particularly from camps) at higher levels. If you plan on taking your Paladin far, Engineering also has some Plate pieces for the 60+ levels (TBC only). * Mining and Jewelcrafting : With the release of the Burning Crusade, and the new Jewelcrafting profession, this combo is now a viable option for just about any class. The introduction of rings and necklaces at very early levels in the game is a new advantage Jewelcrafters will enjoy, as most rings and neck pieces aren't achievable until the late teens. In the end, do what you want. Many of the combinations help a certain style of play and selecting a combination based on your play style will just enhance your enjoyment of the game. Remember that you can later change professions if need be. Start your professions early: they are usually inexpensive, and starting early helps ensure that anything a Paladin can create with his/her skills is applicable to the character's level. However, a recommendation for paladins are blacksmithing and mining. Blacksmithing will help you to create the best armor and certainly the best weapons, like Stormherald in the game. Mining is also good because it helps to provide items for blacksmithing. Another good choice is Herbalism and Alchemy, which provide a good source of income (Selling Herbs/Potions) and also gives you a good deal of independence, with Cooking and First Aid it lets you keep your mana for Seals/Judgement. Secondary professions * Cooking * Fishing * First Aid Cooking and First Aid are of less use to paladins than most melee classes, since paladins can heal themselves. Many cooked foods, however, do provide buffs such as a boost in total health and/or spirit. In addition, cooked foods typically sell for more than their components, providing a useful source of extra money after normal hunting. First Aid can be useful for healing when you are trying to conserve mana (or are simply out of it). Many high-level raiding groups require every character to have a high First Aid skill for those reasons. Fishing is no longer the money-maker that it once was, but can still be useful to raise your cooking skill and provide buff food. Paladin Specific Quest Rewards Verigan's Fist This 2H Mace is an extremely overpowered weapon for a young Alliance Paladin and can be obtained at level 20. Because of its high damage and stats, it will last you until the mid 30s. For more information about the quest to obtain this item, see the Paladin Quests entry. Blood-Tempered Ranseur This 2H Polearm is a decent weapon for a young Horde Paladin at level 20, but you must train the Polearms weapon's skill to use it, and the Sin'dorei Warblade, a 2H Sword, is an easier to obtain weapon with similar stats. See also Paladin Attributes Paladin Quests External links *The official Paladin forum *Maintankadin - A dedicated Protection Paladin forum *Cromfel, The Retribution Paladin Hideout - A dedicated Retribution Paladin forum Category:Paladins Paladin